This application claims the priority of German patent document 10 2007 028 098.1-22, filed Jun. 19, 2007, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein.
The invention relates to an airplane having a fuselage and a floor structure that includes cross members and floor plates.
For mounting and integration of a floor into a passenger plane, the cross members of the floor structure are fixedly connected with the fuselage shell structure by riveting them to the fuselage spar elements. This technique is both costly and time-consuming.
The fuselage shell and the floor structure are manufactured separately. In manufacturing the fuselage shell, the spar elements are installed with a certain tolerance, and the floor structure is assembled on an erecting frame, which also gives rise to certain tolerances.
During integration of the floor into the fuselage, tolerances between the floor cross members and the fuselage spars must be compensated by a high-expenditure shimming before drilling and mounting can be started. For shimming, it is know to a person skilled in the art to apply an age-hardening paste directly to the components to be connected. In this manner, differences of up to approximately 0.7 mm can be compensated.
As a result of the increasing use of composite fiber materials in the construction of airplanes, fine coal dust is created during the assembly, which is difficult to remove from the airplane. This results in the risk of corrosion with respect to the aluminum components and in the danger of a short circuit in the electric lines. In addition, high-expenditure health safety measures must be implemented because of the coal dust emission.
As a result of the fixed connection of the passenger floor and the airplane fuselage, the first installation of equipment objects (cable, lines, etc.) is very labor and cost intensive. This also applies to the later maintenance, to necessary repairs and particularly to retrofitting.
German Patent Document DE 31 41 869 A1 describes an airplane where forces are transmitted by horizontal rods in the longitudinal direction of the airplane between the fuselage and the floor structure. The rods are connected with a fuselage spar element at the fuselage end and are connected with the floor plates on the floor structure end. Fittings that are connected directly with the floor to transmit the forces in the transverse direction of the airplane are provided at the fuselage spar elements. In the downward direction, the floor plates are supported by a planar vertically oriented component.
One object of the present invention is to provide an airplane with a floor structure whose integration requires reduced mounting expenditures and reduced assembly time.
This and other objects and advantages are achieved by the fuselage and floor structure according to the invention, in which the connection between the fuselage shell and the floor structure is implemented exclusively by means of rods.
In a preferred embodiment, two groups of rods are used, the first of which is provided in the plane of the floor structure. Together, they form a framework, and preferably they have a longitudinally changeable construction. The second group of rods is arranged below the floor structure for support in the downward direction. They are preferably oriented at a right angle (that is, perpendicularly) with respect to the floor structure, and may be constructed with an exact length as well as a variable length.
By integrating the passenger floor according to the invention exclusively by means of rods, high-expenditure shimming of the cross members of the floor with the spar elements of the fuselage shell can be eliminated. The existing tolerances are compensated by means of adjustable longitudinally variable rods. Thus, drilling of carbon fiber composite materials during the floor integration can also be eliminated, reducing the otherwise resulting health hazard.
The rods, particularly the longitudinally changeable rods, advantageously have a detachable construction, and are inserted, for example, by means of bolts, into prepared receiving bores in the floor cross member and in the fuselage fitting. By making it possible to detach major areas of the rod linkage of the floor from the fuselage structure, fairly large preassembled equipment objects can be integrated in the area of the lateral linkage of the floor to fuselage. This saves considerable costs and time, specifically during the first assembly as well as during maintenance work and upgrades.
The invention makes it possible to transmit all forces in the longitudinal direction of the airplane and in the transverse direction of the airplane exclusively by means of longitudinally changeable rods.
Linking the passenger floor to the airplane fuselage according to the invention achieves a cleaner and faster assembly. During mounting, no coal dust is created as a result of the drilling. The connections are advantageously only inserted/screwed, and, as a result of the longitudinally changeable rods, a linkage of the floor to the airplane fuselage can be established that has little bracing.